Cawal-lock gate



CANAL-LOCK GATE.

TED STATEs PATENT onnron.

oHARLnsNnnR, or TROY, New YORK.

Speccation of Letters Patent N o. 8,789, dated March 9, 1852.

ToaZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES NEER, of Troy, inthe county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Canal and River Looks; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part thereof, in which- Figure l, represents a perspective view, and Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 represent detached portions of the lock, not distinctly shown in Fig. l.

Similar letters in the several figures represent the same parts.

The nature of my invention consists, first, in making the lower gatesswing outward or down stream, for the double purpose of saving space in the lock chamber, without increased length of walls, and so that the gates may be opened before the chamber is entirely empty, and using the force of the escaping water to carry the boat, raft, or other thing being locked through, so that it may be carried out without delay, as in locks of ordinary construction. `Second, in the use of a stationary gate placed a little below the breast Vwall at the head of the lock, so as to form with said breast wall a recess or small chamber, through which the lock may be filled at any point above the bottom of said recess, said stationary gate being in height about the same with that of the breast wall or lift of the lock. Third, in the introduction of a sinking head gate to extend across the head of the lock, and which reaches downward a little below the top of the stationary gate when the lock is shut, and which sinks or` slides into and occupies a portion of the recess formed by the stationary gate and breast walls, and be on a level therewith, when the upper lock gate is open to pass boats through, thus avoiding the necessity of swinging gates, which saves inV To enable Vothers skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the draw` ings.

The lock walls may be constructed in any of the well known forms, with this eXcep` tion, that the recesses for the lower gates should be formed in the wing walls. The quoins should be placed in the upper ends of the recesses, reversing their positions as used in ordinary locks, where the lower gates swing upward or into the chamber. The wing walls A, A, below the recesses should form such an angle with the line of the lock walls, as would strike about the center of the lock gates 13,713, when closed. Horizontal grooves or channels a, should be formed in the wing walls below the recesses, for the reception of the braces c, when the gates are open, and in the bottom ofeach groove should be secured an iron plate, upon which vertical friction rollers in the ends of each of the braces may run smoothly.` On the face of the wing walls, and extending slightly below the upper part of the said grooves, are also firmly secured other iron bars `7), which form a flange, against which horizontal friction rollers, which may be also arranged in the ends of said braces C, may run, thus giving to said braces a free motion along said grooves without liability to cramping while they are confined entirely in said grooves. An iron strap c, is so arranged on that end of each of the braces which runs in the grooves, as that it will also form a loop or staple, into which when the gates are closed, shall be thrown a series of bolts e, which are all attached to one bar f, placed in the lower corner of the recess, so that they may be all.thrown into the sta` ples, at one operation, and thus secure the braces C, rmly against the gates. The other ends of the braces `or those which rest against the gates, are hinged to their respective gates, so as to be drawn forward or forced back by the swinging of the gates, but so mitered (as seen in Fig. 1,) as that the weight against the gates, shall not come on said hinges, but against `the ends of said braces. a l i At the top of the upright bar f, which carries the bolts or keys, Iarrange a. hori- Zontal lever D, on a fulcrum, and which eX- tends along the wall of the recess, to near the heel post of the gate, so as to be directly behind the gatewhen open. `To this lever Y piece isframed the four upright posts F, and

firmly secured to said posts, by bearings in ywhich it may freely turn, I arrange the shaft g, and upon said shaft- I place a pinion over the center of each gate. A perpendicular rack 72 which is held by a guide z', attached to the string piece E, is made to mesh with said pinion, and the end of the bar, on which the rack is formed extends down to near the top of each gate, and directly over a rod lc, whichis attached to the wicket (which is opened by means to be hereafter described) so that when the wicket is raised to draw off the chamber, the rod k, comes up against the bar on which the rack la, is formed, forcing up said rack, and` by means of the pinion into which it works, gives the shaft g, the necessary turn to wind up a weight upon the pulley Z, on said shaft, which weight when thus wound up, is held by a pawl fr, and ratchet y, and when released will be sufficient with the other mechanical devices which I have arranged for fastening them, to close g, about over the center of each gate, I arrange a section of a pulley m, which is made Vslightly spiral, and toeach of which are at` tached the chains n, running down and passing through or over two pulleys arranged underneath the string piece E seen in dotted lines in the drawing Fig. l, and thence to the gate where they are fastened. On or near the extreme ends of the shaft g, are secured the arms 0, which are made to catch under the projection p, on the bars g, and* which bars extend down sufficiently far to receive the end of the lever D, which operates the bar f, carrying the bolts or keys for locking the braces C against the gates. When it is desired to close the gate the pawl is raised which releases the weight, and by its descent draws the gates shut, and just as the gates are closed, the arms 0, on the shaft, catch under the projections 29, on the bar Q, and raise up said bars, and with the bars the ends of the levers D, which are secured thereto, and throw down the opposite ends of the levers, which carry down with them the bar f, upon which the bolts or keys e, are arranged, and firmly lock the gatesin aword is may be said, that to close and lock the gates, the only manual opera-tion required is to raise the pawl m, from th ratch y.

The upper gates, (which unlocks as ordinarily constructed, have hereto-fore been made to swing back into a recess formed in the upper wing walls, which adds tothe length of the wall an amount equal to the width of the gates,) I construct as follows: The lower half G, of the gate is made stationary, and may be made in one piece, or divided inthe center as in ordinary gates; said gate is placed sufliciently far'below the small chamber seen in Fig. 7, through which the water may be let into the chamber, by means of wickets arranged at any suitable height above the bottom of the lock, and should be in height the same or about the same as the top of said breast wall, or what is termed the lift of the lock. The upper half H, of the upper gate, is made to extend across the lock, and reaches downward, a little below the top of the stationary gate Gf, when the lock is shut, and sinks or slides into the recess or chamber formed by said stationary gate and breast wall, and be on a level therewith when said gate is open for the purpose of passing through boats &c., thus avoiding the necessity of swinging the gates against the volume of water, and merely passing the gate through the water edgewise as it were instead of the broadside asin the common way of construction.

The head gates I make sufficiently heavy to sink a little before the water in the lock shall be as high as the surface of that in the canal above the lock, so as to allow the water to react, and assist in running out the boat. 'Io close the gate I attach a rod r, Fig. 5, to the wicket which is placed in the stationary gate Gr, for filling the lock, and pass the same through the girts above the chamber, and over the upper end of said rod 7", I arrange a lever I, between the girts, which passes through the post of the stationary gate, to which I attach a rod s, Figs. l and 5, which passes up through a groove in said post to the top thereof, and which post should be of sufhcient height, to run up the sinking gate I-I, by a pulley t, and a chain attachedthereto. At the top of the post aforesaid, I hang a shaft, upon which is placed a small pinion into which works the ratch u, arranged on the upper end of said rod s, running from the lever I, above described, and by means of which I run up a weight over the pulley t, in filling the lock, or rather by opening 'the wicket, and retain the same by means of a ratchet a, and pawl w; and when'it is desired to close the gate, by drawing up the sliding half thereof, I release the pawl fw, from the ratch a, and the weight runs down, V,and draws up the gate. The chain which passes around the pulley t, for raising up the sink- Ybreast wall of theY lock to form a recess or 1V iso' ` ing gate is branched and passes around and same time.

The wickets are raised by hydrostatic pressure as follows: That part of the gate which is used for this purpose, is boxed up tight as seen at Fig. 3, which represents a` section through the middle of theigate, and the water is introduced through one or more small orifices which are covered by the valves J, J, F ig. 4, said valves being attached to j a rod c, extending to the top of the gate,

and provided with a hand lever 0 for raising it. The hand lever for' opening the valves of the upper gate should be so arranged as to be on the side of the lock instead over the gate. When the wicket is to be opened, the valves J, J, are raised up by the rod 7c', and t-he water is let in underneath the piston head o', which forces it up, and with it the wicket K, by means of the connecting rods c (shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3) there being one at each end of the piston head. As theV piston head rises itforoes up the rod 7c, which is attached to it, and brings it in contact with the racks before described for winding up the weights. The operation `may be the same in principle at either of the gates usingfor the purpose as many hydrostatic chambers as may be necessary for the purpose; the girt-s of the gate serving the purpose of vforming the stationary part of the j chamber.

The wicketsare closed by their own weight after the water is drawn oif.

To prevent any leak between the miter sill, and the bottom of the gate which frequently happens, from the fact that the gates must swing clear of the bottom of the lock, or from any slight obstruction which may intervene between the gates to prevent their closing tight, I have arranged a self adjusting batten or water strip L, Figs. 2 and 3, which when the gates do not come up close, is, by means ofthe slots c, and by the the pressure of the water against the inclined side of said water strip (seen in Fig. 3) forced up against the gates, closing up entirely any water space or leak. These water strips may if found necessary be arranged at any and all of the joints of the gate to eifectually close them against leakage.

Various means may be devised, for carrying out thel objects herein set forth, for instance, instead of allowing both the lower gates to swing outward, there may be one large gate to swing outward, and a small gate which shall swing into the chamber, and which when the gates are closed,`1nay have the large gate so fitted or mitered against it, as to: hold` or partially hold it in place, thus making it to take the place of my gate braces.

Instead of the sinking gate at the head of the lock, swinging gates may be used, and still reta-in the stationary gate. Intsead also, of opening the wickets by hydrostaticI power, and applying the excess' of power for the purpose of opening and closing the gat-es, and throwing in the bolts or keys for holding the gate braces in place, a recess might be arranged in the wall, or a well, into which a float might be so constructed, as by the varying height of the water to perform these operations, but all these I consider but mere modifications of. my general principles, and would consider their use as a Violation Vof my invention or discovery.

Having thus fully described the nature of my invention what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The opening of the lower gates of a canal or river lock outward or down stream in combination with the means described or their equivalents for operating them for the dou-ble purpose of saving length in the lock chamber with the same walls, and for allowing the gates to be opened before the chamber is entirely empty, so that the escaping water, may carry out with it the boat, raft, or other thing being passed through with the least possibile delay,

2. I claim the stationary gate at the head of the lock which forms with the breast wall of the lock with the top of which it is level, a recess or chamber, through which the lock chamber may be filled at any desired height above the bottom of the lock, and thus save length of lock wall.

3. I claim in combination with the stationary gate, the sinking head gate, extending across the lock, and reaching down a little below the top of the stationary gate when the gate isl shut, and which sinks or slides into the recess formed in part by said stationary gate, and is on a level therewith when open, for passing boats &c., for the purpose of saving in the lengt-h of the lock chamber an amount nearly equal to the width of the gate.

4. I claim the so placing of an adjustable batten or water strip on the bottom of a lock a-s that it may be operated upon by the pressure of the water within the lock chamber, 

